Two Sussex MPs donate pay rise to charity

Two Sussex MPs have kept promises to donate their £7,000 pay rise to charity as it is revealed 40 Members of Parliament didn’t stick to their word.

Maria Caulfield, MP for Lewes, and Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, are two of 25 MPs to give their pay increase to good causes, despite 65 MPs pledging to do so when it was first announced.

Westminster’s 650 Members of Parliament were awarded a controversial 10 per cent pay rise from July, pushing their salary from £67,000 to £74,000.

When it was announced, 65 MPs pledged to give the additional £7,000 to charity. However, just a few months later, an investigation by The Sun newspaper revealed only 25 MPS have appeared to have kept their promise.

Lewes MP Maria Caulfield is one of just two Sussex MPs to make the donation, alongside Caroline Lucas, She said: “I decided I didn’t want to accept the pay rise, especially with colleagues in the public sector, where I came from, only getting 1 per cent.

“So far, I have asked charities via local e-news, leaflets and local press stories to contact me and at first, I only heard from one or two, but now we are getting a steady stream of requests.

“Because we only got the pay rise in July and a lot of people were away over the summer, I am giving charities until the end of the year to contact me before we decide who will be successful this year. Any that aren’t successful this year are likely to go in the mix for next year and I will put all those who have had a donation on the website.

“Ideally, I would like to give once to each charity to ensure everyone gets a chance but we will have to see how things go in terms of demand and I am only doing local charities, not national ones, as these often struggle to get funding - although national charities firmly based in the community would be considered.”

The pay rise was implemented by the government’s independent watchdog – so it went through automatically – but all of the party leaders told their MPs to donate the extra money to good causes.